Spies

Oh, the girls come up with some of the funniest things. They crack me up!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there. My wonderful husband, who should have been pampered today instead pampered me. He had the whole day to himself yesterday while I was up at my parent's and went out to eat, saw a movie, and just had a nice, relaxing day. So today he let me sleep when Sarah was up at 5:15, got the girls ready for church, even let me take a nap after church. He's so sweet. He even made most of his Father's Day pie last night (lemon meringue) because I was so exhausted. I sure love him!

This was an extremely busy week with church meetings, swim lessons, nature classes, garage sale, housing youth conference boys (15 plus 2 chaperons) making cookies, pies, and keeping up with 4 little ones. I don't know how people make it when they get so incredibly scheduled. It's exhausting! I'm looking forward to a more relaxing week.

Trust

I guess I was spoiled while living on post at Ft. Riley, but we had gotten into the habit of never locking our car or our house when we were gone. Maybe it wasn't the smartest thing, but I felt that I could trust everyone there to leave my stuff well enough alone. Not here! Last Friday night Steve was at his campout and I was here with the girls. I always lock the house when I'm here alone, but left the van as it was. Next day... our nice GPS was gone. They left the charger and everything, which was odd, but the unit was gone. I am so frustrated. I don't like to suspect my neighbors or every person that walks by now, but I do find myself wondering who will rip me off next? Very lame. Still have to fill out a police report on it, too. If anyone comes across a GPS that shows our family at the start-up screen, let me know ;-) That reminds me... I'd better go lock the van.

Oh- and drivers here are terrible! I guess I never noticed because I moved from here to Utah where they're worse. But Kansas drivers are kind- almost to a fault. You can sit at 4-way stops for 5 minutes while everyone tells each other to go first. Here you have to watch out. Most are aggressive and they don't stop at crosswalks- even when I'm walking with all 4 kids in tow. Never thought I'd miss anything about Kansas besides the people :)

Swim Lessons

This year I decided to enroll Ellie in swim lessons. A lady here in town teaches them out of her personal pool (what a great way to pay for a pool!). It's actually the son that teaches the little kids. It is only 2 weeks- 8 lessons total. I've never put Ellie in anything "extra" before, so it was interesting to see the different kids and Moms that were there. There's the sweet, quiet mom. Then there's the athletic mom with her son in goggles and two little kids in goggles watching from the sidelines. The mom that gets there late every day. And of course the mom that lets her kid do whatever she wants and is walked all over. The first week was quite interesting. Poor Ellie just didn't understand what she was supposed to do. And no matter how much I encouraged her to dunk her head or put her whole face in the water to blow those bubbles, she wouldn't do it. I'm not the kind of mom that has to have her kid be #1 at everything. Every child has their own strengths and moves at different speeds. But I'll admit I was convinced swimming was not for Ellie as the other four kids in her class were doing better. Well, this week I'm feeling better about it. She is still not totally getting it, but she's at least enjoying herself now and enjoys dunking. And the other kids were enrolled last year in the same class and are just barely ahead of her. There is hope :-)

Starved Rock

One of the adventures we undertook while Troy and family were here was a trip up to Utica, IL to visit Starved Rock State Park. I don't think I have ever been there before and it was a beautiful area. Steve had to be down at school, so I took the kids myself. We had quite the group- 2 grandparents, 3 parents, and 9 kids ranging 4 mos (Ryan and Matthew are just 3 weeks apart) to 8 years. We had a great picnic then began our hike. We started with Starved Rock. The story of how the area got its name is quite tragic:

Starved Rock State Park derives its name from a Native American legend of injustice and retribution. In the 1760s, Pontiac, chief of the Ottawa tribe upriver from here, was slain by an Illiniwek while attending a tribal council in southern Illinois. According to the legend, during one of the battles that subsequently occurred to avenge his killing, a band of Illiniwek, under attack by a band of Potawatomi (allies of the Ottawa), sought refuge atop a 125-foot sandstone butte. The Ottawa and Potawatomi surrounded the bluff and held their ground until the hapless Illiniwek died of starvation- giving rise to the name “Starved Rock.”

The kids did awesome. We were out hiking about 2 1/2 hours. Ryan and Matthew were in front carriers, Troy took turns with Sarah, Amelia and Katie in the backpack carrier and the rest hiked the whole way. Katie ended up falling asleep in it and slept through the end of the hike. But the thing that was too funny was my girls. I promise- they play outside all the time and I even let them get dirty if they want to. You'd never know it. Katie and Sarah freaked out with every little bug (or black speck that could be a bug) that they encountered. And we're in Illinois- there are lots of bugs. As we were hiking along Mom and I were trying to encourage Katie to keep going and enjoy herself. Her response? "But it's so dirty!" Then I saw a caterpillar fall out of a tree. It was a cute one, reminiscent of the chubby green caterpillar in "Bugs Life". I had Sarah come take a look. She leaned over, took a nice long look at it... and commenced in one rather quick move of her foot... to squish the poor thing. Ah yes- my nature-loving children.

quick summary

I know it has been forever since I wrote, but I haven't even looked at pictures on the camera and am not quite sure where to start. So I guess I'll say that we had a great vacation with the Tolmans, we're moved into the house, almost all the boxes are unpacked and gone, and it's really starting to feel like home. Ryan is getting bigger by the minute and is almost out of his 3-6 month clothes (he's 4 months old today!) He giggles, grunts, and smiles lots. He is still a terrible sleeper (no more than 4 hours at a time at night) but that is not unusual for my kids, so it's not a huge deal. We get to spend time with my sister, Cynthia and her family and my brother Troy and his family in the next week, which we're really looking forward to. The ward is great and both of us already have callings. Steve is the assistant 11-year old scout guy and I teach that class for Primary. I hear they're a rough group of kids, so we'll see how it goes this Sunday. Any suggestions on what to do with 3 11-year old boys? :) I will try my best and get pics up soon!